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thaumaturgy - paths

Thaumaturgy differences from disciplines as it is a path & ritual system.  The paths mimic disciplines system wise, but are rated only to 5.  The rituals are slow to perform & methodical powers.  Many wonder why the Tremere even bother with the rituals, but every Magus, Tremere and alike know the true power of Thaumaturgy lies with the creation of rituals.

Listed here you'll find one unique path not found in other texts.  It was created by Vaughn.  Feel free to use in your chronicle if it suits your needs.

Path of Mentis celritas /Speed of thought

History: This path's creation came about in 1600s, by Magus Vaughn, Lord of Transylvania to the Tremere Clan. Vaughn believed that many magical talents of his brethren were wasted as they were unable to perform multiple feats that other clans were able to do so easily with Celerity. In fact, there was a time which Lord Vaughn was planning to learn Celerity, until he realized its only flaw. Celerity is restricted to physical actions only. Even though the body was capable of multiple actions, the mind was not. It was with this basis that he believed he would be able to reverse the effects.  Through the power of will, vitae, focus & thought he theorized that a user would be granted additional mental actions, instead of physical. This path is not a closely guarded secret within the Tremere, but it is in fact rare. Many apprentices and even new Regents are unaware this path exists, but it is freely taught & learned, so long as the pupil meets the prerequisite Circles of Mystery. There are however variants of this path, created by youthful Tremere, but this path has the benefit of being created by the Magus who assisted in the Curse of the Assamites. Those Tremere who have learned other variants, may undo their learning and learn this path, at the cost of current rating in path per level. Example: Katrina, Childer of Magus Vaughn dabbled in her own variant of a path similar to this. She achieved a level of 3 in her path. For 6 XP, (1+2+3) her dots are converted to Path of Mentis Celeritas, & she may learn the rest at x4, so long as she has a tutor.

Description: Thaumaturgy primary bane is the limitation to the number of times to be used at any given time. A thaumaturge must choose to perform only one feat of will at a time. This becomes a severe restriction if the caster is a user of Auspex, Dominate, Presence or any other discipline restricted to one use / turn. Through the use of Celerity, the Assamite, Rajah, Toreador Clans have bypassed the limitation of a physical exertion per turn, but again this is limited to only Physical, not Mental or Social. Through the use of Blood Magic, the Tremere have once again overcome the Curse of Cain by loosening the restrains imposed on them. This path allows multiple uses of Thaumaturgy, Dominate, Auspex, any Mental or Social Discipline to be used per turn, at the cost of will by the caster.

System: Each dot in the path represents an additional extra action the caster may use Thaumaturgy, Auspex, Dominate, Presence, Serpentis, or any other Mental/Social Discipline. Only Mental/Social actions may be performed in this manner, not physical actions.  In addition, any use of Celerity after casting Mentis Celeritas, causes Celerity to fail with blood loss, while if Celerity was activated, then Mentis Celeritas attempted, the user discovers they are unable to spend willpower to activate the path. It is believed that this is some security measure, created by Vaughn, but he has not given an explanation. A magus may freely alternate turns between Celerity & Mentis Celeritas.

Path Rating	Actions Granted	Description
*	1 Extra Mental/Social Actions	Dabbler of Will
**	2 Extra Mental/Social Actions
***	3 Extra Mental/Social Actions	Focus of Will
****	4 Extra Mental/Social Actions
*****	5 Extra Mental/Social Actions	Pure Attunement of Will

Dabbler of Will: No Blood Expenditure or willpower roll is required as the actions are automatic. To activate the path, the user must spend a willpower point per additional action required. This activation need not be declared at the start of the turn as per Celerity. Instead at the start of each Celerity action the Caster must declare if he wishes to act. A willpower point is then spent gaining one additional action. The scene then continues via the Initiative ratings. At the start of any additional actions the caster must decide if he wishes to act again (and thus spending another willpower), or if he wishes to wait until the next turn. Once the caster has forfeited additional actions, he may not again act until the next turn.

Focus of Will: Once level 3 of Mentis Celeritas is obtained, the caster has a better understanding of this own Will. The character may spend 1 willpower, then spends 1 blood per additional action and rolls a standard activation. So long as the caster obtains successes equal to or greater than the number in
his path, he may do so, in that turn at the penalty of +1 difficulty for any action beyond the second dot in the path. The Magus, may opt *not* to activate Focus of Will, and spend 3 willpower for 3 additional actions without difficulty penalty. He may *not* mix the uses of Dabbler or Focus in one turn however, but may so on alternative turns.

Pure Attunement of Will: Once the path has been mastered, the Thaumaturge has obtain pure attunement with his will. He may spend 1 willpower to activate all additional actions, but he is limited by the number of actions equal to his intelligence. Any additional actions performed beyond their Intelligence, results in an increasing difficulty, +1, +2, +3. Ex: Omri has recently mastered Mentis Celeritas. He is ambushed by a Sabbat Pack, and activates Mentis Celeritas, Level Pure Attunement. He has a 4 Intelligence, so he may perform 4 additional Mental or Social Actions without penalty, but if he performs a 5th, it's performed at a +1 Difficulty. Had Omri only had 2 Intelligence. Then he'd get his normal action, plus two via Mentis Celeritas, but a third action would be at +1, the fourth at +2, and the fifth additional action granted by Mentis Celeritas would be at +3 difficulty.

Path of blood 6, Mass Theft

Author's Note:  While waiting for a player to arrive at game, the idea was joked around stating what if there were powers above 5 for Thaumaturgy?  What would they be.  While we wrote down some of the rules, the storyteller felt that they fit his storyline.  It was this game that Vaughn would be made Counselor, and the hidden powers above 5 were revealed.

Story History: Magus Vaughn, now Counselor Vaughn in 1998 resumed his research after the events in Transylvania Chronicles IV. The Tremere antiribu were destroyed, & Tremere himself had been restored to power. Tremere wished to eliminate Vaughn from Tremere politics so, Tremere then decided to make Vaughn a member of the Circle of Seven, the position formally held by Goratrix. As the youngest member, along with being the first Tremere to be embraced who wasn't previously a mage as a mortal Vaughn resumed his research in Thaumaturgy. While he was only moments away from discovering the power himself, Etrius walked in to instruct him in the true ways of Thaumaturgy.

History: Paths of Thaumaturgy are limited to only 5 power levels, a known constant to the Tremere, the Assamites & Setites. The Tremere Counselors have in fact discovered lost levels above the normal. Although normally used only for rituals, The Tremere discovered that one power exists for reach level, up to 10 for every path. Further research revealed that only 1 power exists and no two Counselors were able to discover multiple powers of the same level.

Description:
A secret jealousy guarded by the Counselors of the Tremere enhances the Path of Blood Theft of Vitae to perform a Mass attack that not only targets multiple users, but also dramatically increases the Tremere's Blood Pool. This power is known only to those of the Circle of Seven and the propaganda being told that Paths of Thaumaturgy are limited to 5 has kept the rest of the Clan in line.

System:
The caster chooses their target(s), which may not exceed their Thaumaturgy rating. A minimum of two targets must be chosen. The caster then rolls their willpower rating along with their Thaumaturgy rating at difficulty 9. Total successes is the number of blood points the caster may divide between the targets. Mortals faint for 1 hour per blood point taken, but mortals who loose more than 3 points of blood must seek medical attention or will die. Kindred loose the blood from their pools, and may suffer frenzy if their blood pool is low.